imk 



Author 



i*o p 




Title 



Imprint 



10—47372-3 



1 ' 




ABDEE88 



HON. RICHARD YATES. 



IlKUVKKEl) AT THE 



IP 






GRAND OVATION 



TENDERED HIM HY IKK 



jif iiiis m jAGSsoirnuii, 






■oral oj his Course in th>: >)9 . Congress. 



Delivered at Strawn's Hall, Saturday Evening. Sept. 15, 1866. 



HP 






JACKSONVILLE : 

JO DBS A I. BTBAM POWER PBBM riuJIT. 

1866. 




ADDRESS 



HON. RICHARD YATES. 



DELIVERED AT THE 



GRAND OVATION 



TENDERED HIM EY THE 



FJAOSSfl 



In Approval of his Course in the oQth (' 



Delivered at Strawn's Hall, Saturday Evening, Sept. 15, 1866. 



JACKSONVILLE: 

JOCRNAl BTEAM POWER PRE88 I ) 

L866. 






Y 






CORRESPONDENCE. 



Jacksonville, III., Sept. IT, I860. 
Hon. RICHARD YATES— Dear Sir : 

Having had the pleasure of listening to your eloquent address atStrawn's 

Hall, onlhe evening of the loth inst., we are desirous that your many 

friends who were unable to hear you on that occasion may read your remarks. 

We, therefore, respectfully request a copy for publication, if you can con-: 

venieutly favor us with the same. 

Very respectfully, 

J. W. KING, 
WM. P. BARR, 
J. T. NEWMAN, 
OLIVER J. PYATT, 
WM. B. JOHNSOX. 
JOSEPH TOMLINSON, 
DAVID M. SIMMONS, 
GEO. W. PADG1TT, 
W. C. WOODMAN, 
WM. HAMILTON, Jr., 
JOS. J. IRONMONGER 
Conn 



Jacksonville, III., Sept. 19, 18 ■ 
Messrs. J. W. King, W. P. Ban; J. T. Mwman, Oliver J. Pyatt, and oti 

Committee: 

Ckntlemen: I take pleasure in complying with your request, and here- 
with enclose you a copy of my Address for publication. 

I return to you and our fellow-citizens whom you represent my sincere 
thanks for the beautiful and cordial manner in which you and they have 
aeon tit to express your appreciation of my humble servi.. s. 

Very respectfully, 

RICHARD YATES, 



Address of Welcome, by Hon. P. G. Gillett. 



Friends, Fellow- Citizens, Ladles and 
G< ntlemt a : 

Our community is one peculiarly fa- 
Tored in many respects. - estiv- 

■ i , are by no 

means uncommon oc< ng us. 

We are assembled this c vening, how 
upon an occasion of no ordinar 
and importance even in Jacksonville. The 
se of our coming together is to do 
ourselves < to his home, 

find awarding a well-earned honor to one 

of our fi 
throughout the laud. We arc not here 

ours to indulge in fulsome adulation of the 
\ :. We live in a tin u are 

called upon 

— -\\r.t with I 

in the year 
lom is tbn i 
■ of ii i friends, 1 

• 

I fel- 

■ 

ive ii. 

. 
lie has led the \ i 

■ I 

■ 

hap ours, 

bits he hos n ■ < r b 

pain 

I In 



and nourished by the supplies he lias fur 

I them ; because upon the battli 
in the Iwaya 

and ' re he is enshrined in the 

of Illinois 
colors were never struck, and whose backs 
o the foe — the ' 
cd," we welcome him home to- 
. i Applause.] Because, v. hen a chansre 
: field of I 
ie to the White House and halls of 
he was as r 
to encounter th of Freedo 

I been to at 
pith Illinois valor, endur- 
or all these and oth- 
• r e welcome him home to-] 

le my 
ci 
ofjacl ar youthful 

id do 

i 

COUth' feCtl 

- : 

. 

I ■ i ■ 

i 

i mnly 

it e. 

rs. I now 

rl i oman and 

nt join in the welkin 

t, of i eat cheeri 



ADDRESS. 



Fellow Citizens — I should he in- 
capable of the emotions which should 
swell every heart, did I not return to 
you, now, my most sincere thanks 
for the cordial welcome you have 
given me on this occasion. 

But I may first return my hearty 
acknowledgements to Mr. Gillett, for 
the graceful and most eloquent man- 
ner in which he has expressed your 
appreciation. 

It is true that Jacksonville is my 
home. From boyhood, and during 
my manhood, it has been my home ; 
and, to you, my fellow-citizens — to 
your suffrages and your counsels — I 
may truly say, I am indebted for the 
ground-work of whatever success I 
may have had through my life. Up- 
on the present occasion, however, I 
am aware of the fact, that it is not 
simply from your personal regard — 
which I so highly appreciate — that 
you extend to me this cordial wel- 
come ; but it is from a higher consid- 
eration. It is from the consideration 
that, since we are in the midst of 
troublous times, and the very desti- 
ny of our nation is hanging, perhaps, 
on a few months of time, you extend 
to me this welcome because I have 
been one of that 39th congress, which, 
despite the blandishments, or the 
bribes, or the threats, or terrors oi 
Executive power, has maintained it- 
self, self-poised and well-balanced, in 



the high and noble purpose of pre- 
serving the republic from the dangers 
which have surrounded it. (Applause. ) 

I have said that we live in perilous 
times. Is there a man before me 
who feels that his footing is entirely 
safe, even in this land which has been 
so happy during the years of the past, 
and whose political foundations we 
deemed so secure '. 

I remember well that on the 14th 
day of April, 1865, this nation was 
pleased with itself. Four years be - 
fore that time, horror and indignation 
1 and inflamed the popular heart 
and mind, because the, flag of the na- 
tion was torn by traitor hands from 
the heights of .Sumter. The lurid 
flames of war shot athwart the horo- 
scope of the nation, and the tramp of 
marshalling hosts, and the pomp of 
Avarlike preparation brok< the still 
ness of peace which had so long 
blessed the land. War came — and 
such a war — gigantic war — the soil 
was crimsoned, and our rivers ran 
purple with human gore. Armies 
marched and fought, and commanders 
lost and won their victories,now pros- 
perous, wow adverse fortune till, at last, 
success, raised our ensign, Lee's proud 
army gave way. and victory streamed 
from all our banners in the North, in 
the South — upon the land, upon tin- 
sea (Applause.) 

On that Mth day of April, 



1.8G5, the nation's eyes -were turned 
to that same Fort Sumter, where 
thousands of our loyal coun- 
trymen had gone to raise that flag 
whence traitor hands had pulled it 
down. The streets of Washington 
were gay with banners ; every house 
was brilliantly decorated, and Penn- 
sylvania Avenue was a scene of beau- 
ty indeed. The measure of our hap- 
piness was full, and our thanks went 
up to God for the victory. Our grat- 
itude went out to our Cabinet, to our 
skillful generals, to our brave uncon- 
querable army, and to all the men 
and women of the land, who had la- 
bored for the grand results which 
their skill, and prowess, and great 
efforts had achieved. 

But to one, high above all, did our 
gratitude go out : not to him as Pres- 
ident, but to him as friend, deliverer, 
saviour, the immortal Lincoln. (Ap- 
plause.) It was strange, was it not, 
that on this day, the one event which, 
&f all others, would most astound, 
sadden, and throw the nation back 
upon itself, should, amidst such uni- 
versal gladness, occur — that the Mo- 
ses who led us safely through the 
wilderness of our national troubles — 
the nation's chief — the nation's hope 
— the nation's most loved and honor" 
ed one, who had sunk deeper in the 
affections of the American heart than 
any other man — the most magnifi- 
cent man of the nation and the age ; 
before whom every head in the civil 
ized world was bent in reverence — 
was it boI strange that he should, on 
that fatal day. be struck down by the 
hand of a vile assassin in the interest 
of treason .' 

His humble origin, his gentleness 
of manner, his humility, his purity of 
motive, his unswerving truthfulness, 
his pure, spotless life and character, 
and his elevated devotion to his coun- 
try, had won for him the confidence 
01 the American people. Their 



hearts went out to him. They loved 
him, and leaned upon him with child- 
like and tender love. His opinions 
became their opinions ; and yet, he 
modestly gave them credit for great 
policies, which he had long before 
conceived and elaborated and resolved 
to carry into effect. In this wav he 
direeted popular opinion, shaped and 
controlled events and ruled the na- 
tion without seeming to rule. 

It is a matter of history that he 
had prepared upon paper his views 
upon the Amnesty Proclamation, the 
Emancipation Proclamation. and other 
great measures, long before his Cabi- 
net or the people had conceived them. 
He was the educator of statesmen 
and the people up to the high-water 
mark of unconditional and universal 
emancipation. (Applause.) 

He was not ambitious ; or, rather, 
he was ambitious ; but his ambition 
was a virtue, and not a vice ; an un- 
selfish ambition to serve his country, 
and be a benefactor of his race. He 
never sought glory. There was noth- 
ing of the vain-glorious pomp and 
boast of the braggart about him, 
which men called glory. He never 
sought office, and in not seeking it, 
he was driven to its most shining 
summit ; and sat more securely upon 
fame's proud pinnacle, because care- 
less whether there or not. The Pres- 
idency did not ennoble him ; he en™ 
nobledthe Preside, icy. No olfice, or 
rank, or station could come up to tho 
simple majesty and grandeur of char- 
acter of Abraham Lincoln. [Applause.] 
In a word it will be said, he was the 
priceless gilt of God to America in a 

perilous time ; and raised up to dis- 
play in his simple and majestic per- 
son, that rugged simplicity. I hat stern 
virtue, and (inextinguishable lovo of 
Liberty, which entitles me to stand 
here to-night and pronounce him the 
greatest statesman of the age iu 
which he lived, and a aublimo illua- 



nation of the fact, that exalted good- 
ness and exalted greatness are one 
and inseparable. [Applause.] 

Fellow-citizens, what a mighty 
chasm between the lofty altitude of 
Abraham Lincoln and the infinitesimal 
littleness of Andrew Johnson. John- 
son is rain, egotistical, weak, vacilla- 
ting, selfish, stubborn, arbitrary ; ex- 
alted far above his merit ; possessing 
every passion upon which dema- 
gogues play ; and now, he disgraces 
himself in the eyes of the nation, and 
secures the contempt of mankind, for 
the degradation ho is bringing on the 
high office which has been so glori- 
ously ennobled and dignified by Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

lie talks about being the Moses 
of the colored people. Upon the 
question as to who has been, or who 
may be the Moses of the colored peo- 
ple, it may not be amiss to refer again 
to Mr. Lincoln. There were some 
scenes in the majestic drama of Abra- 
ham Lincoln's life which no pen, or 
painting can portray, nor splendor of 
eloquence describe. On the 1st day 
of January, 1865, when vast crowds 
were pressing along Pennsylvania Av- 
enue to take the hand of Abraham 
Lincoln, at his New Year's re- 
ception — the colored people, who 
constitute a very large proportion of 
the population of Washington, and 
into whose minds it had, somehow or 
other, crept, that, in the Providence 
of God, Abraham Lincoln was to be 
their deliverer, collected in large 
numbers on the commons fronting 
the White House. They there pa- 
tiently waited till the procession \\ en1 
by, that they might pass through and 
take the President's hand. Then they 
sent in an humble request to that ef- 
fect, and were immediately admitted ; 
and Avlien they came and took the 
President by the hand, it was with 
blinding tears in their eyes saying 
" God bless you, Abraham Lincoln !" 



He had, indeed, been a Moses to them. 
And when Richmond was taken, 
through some sort of impression, 
some sort of faith or revelation, the 
colored people believed, that when 
ihe flag floated over the vanquished 
towers of Richmond they should see 
their deliverer. The day after the 
surrender, Mr. Lincoln, without pre- 
vious notice to the military authori- 
ties at Richmond, took his little boy, 
got into a boat, went up the James 
river, landed on the bank, and, un- 
heralded, with no escort, no roll of 
drums, no triumphal car, was quietly 
walking to the hotel. Somehow, 
whether on the Avings of the wind, or 
otherwise, we do not know, the col- 
ored people heard of his coming, and 
in vast multitudes, men, women, and 
children, from the streets, the cellars, 
the by-ways, and the alleys, flocked 
around him and blocked up his way. 
waving their hats and bonnets, arid 
shouting "Glory to God," " God bless 
you, Massa Lincoln I" Here was, in- 
deed, a Moses for the poor, down- 
trodden sons of toil. 

I remember another nover-to-be- 
forgotten scene, when the funeral 
cortege, bearing the President's re- 
mains, passed from the White House 
to the Capitol, along Pennsylvania 
Avenue, where multiplied thousands, 
from far and near, had assembled to 
mourn the loss of the nation's mur- 
dered chief; and when every hous.\ 
window ami tree top was covered 
with those who witnessed the solemn 
scene. In the close, compact crowd, 
the poor sons of toil, with weeping 
eyes and sad hearts mourned, with 
unutterable sorrow, the death of their 
great deliverer. They could not be 
kept back, but pressed forward to 
pay their last tribute of respect to 
their great benefactor. When Lin- 
coln looked down from the shining 
realms, he appreciated the sorrow ol 



8 



every mail in that procession, without 
distinction of color. • 

Lincoln, the great Emancipator, 
was. indeed, a Moses to the colored 
people. Now, I say, what a chasm 
there is between that Moses, and this 
pretended Moses, who is traveling 
through the country, and dispensing 
his insane, everlasting twaddle against 
the true friends of Liberty and Union. 
A beautiful Moses is he to the color- 
ed people, who is for restoring slave- 
holders to all their old rights ; tor re- 
cognizing slave States, with laws fla- 
grantly outraging the colored people, 
and who vetoed both the Freedmen's 
Bureau and Civil Rights bills,fchrough 
which alone these people could have 
security for their lives and property. 
I am not here to indulge in abu- 
sive epithets towards the President of 
the United States. I can have suffi- 
: testimony to the fact that I have 
forborne ; that I have made every ef- 
fort at reconciliation. I love my coun- 
try, and believe that the salvation of 
the country depends upon the Repub- 
lican Union party. I did not wi 

the fruits of victory won from the 
! y divisions in our ran I 
willing to tolerate any differ.- 
ences of opinion that were not n 
al. If the Presidentdid nol go as far as 
I did on the Suffrage and Civil R 

in every hon- 
; party, there must be a 
1 ■ pinions, and that tolera- 
tion isd i [dera- 
tion . land public - 
d Upon a pro: . 

in the i party 

flit out within the I 
of tl I reli 

■. and in the 

which 1 made in l 

■ ord again 

,; : w i •• until ! saw that 
turning the warm, ! • 
la of Mr. Lincoln out of his Cab- 



inet, and out ot offices, everywhere, 
and that he was taking vile traitors 
and copperheads to his bosom, that I 
resolved to oppose him. 

The Union majority in Congress 
forbore with the President, until long- 
er forbearance ceased to be a virtue. 
Senator Trumbull has testified to yon 
that when he drew up the Freedmen's 
I Bureau bill, he went in person to the 
President and submitted it to him, 
and he approved it ; that, after tbo 
bill was printed, he sent it to the 
President and he still found no objec- 
tion. So of the Civil Rights bill. — 
Senator Trumbull has stated in sev~ 
era! of his speeches, that he submitted 
a printed copy to the President, and 
requested him to suggest any objec- 
tions, any defects, or amendments; 
and that he found no objection. And 
yet he treacherously sent in his veto to 
both of these bills, although they con- 
tained not a solitary provision which 
he had not before, in his speeches, 
messages and acts, fully sanctioned. 
Now, is not here an evidence of con- 
ciliation on our part \ For Judge 
Trumbull, in these efforts at concilia- 
tion, was earrying out the wishes of 
the Republican Union party of Con- 
gress. 

You may ask why. in the first in- 
stance, we voted for Johnson ? We 
ood reasons for doing so. His 
I, just before and during the 
rebellion, had been fair, and he was 
cho en in the place of the former Vice 
lent, who was a noble patriot 
and statesman, as an evidence of the 
i of the Republican party to have 
resented, and as proof 
of its opposition to any merely sec- 
tional party. The positi o by 
Mr. Johnson had been Buch as the 
most radical ofthe Repu oould 
approve. In the Senate r ho 
had been a most el< quenl champion 
ofthe Union; and his denunciations 
of Jeff Davis and hi i the 



Senate floor were the most bitter and 
withering of which the English lan- 
guage affords an example. ITe said, 
ia the Senate, March 2, 1861, speak- 
ing of these traitors : "I would have 
thern arrested and tried for treason, 
sad, if convicted, by the Eternal God, 
they should suffer the penalty of the 
law at the hands of the executioner. 
Sir, treason must be punished." As 
a member of the Committee on the 
Conduct of the War,he gave his hearty 
consent and co-operation to every 
measure proposed for a vigorous pros- 
ecution of the war. When appointed 
provisional Governor of Tennessee, lie 
co-operated with the President and 
Congress in every measure to put 
down the rebellion. He accepted an 
invitation to address, and did address, 
a large body of the colored people of 
his own State, at Nashville, and told 
them he hoped a Moses would arise 
to lead them to freedom, and, if no 
other Moses arose, he, would be their 
Moses. He repeatedly declared that 
he would be for giving the intelligent 
portion of the colored people the right 
to vote. He also repeatedly declared 
that he was willing to give suffrage to 
all colored men who had fought for 
the flag. You all remember his let- 
ter to Governor Sharkey, after he be- 
came President, in which he recom- 
mended that the State of Mississippi 
should amend her Constitution so as 
"to deny to all future Legislatures the 
power to legislate that there is prop- 
arty in man,"' and also that "the elec- 
tive franchise be extended to all per- 
sons of color who can read the Con- 
stitution of the United States,in Eng- 
lish, and write their names; and to all j 
persons of color who own real estate 
valued at not less than two hundred 
and fifty dollars:"(a proposition which 
I repudiate, because it is manhood, 
not property, which should be the ba- 
sis of suflrage.) I spoke from the 
same stand with Andrew Johnson, in 



front of the Patent Office, after 
the fall of Richmond, and heard him 
say several times, in substance, tha£ 
••if he were President, whenever he 
found a secessionist, or a traitor, he 
would arrest him, try him, and, if 
found guilty, by the Eternal lie would 
hang him till he was dead. dead, dead,'' 
At the head of Courtney street, on 
Broadway, New York, some impu- 
dent fellow, at his reception, hung 
across the street a motto taken from 
one of the President's speeches, "show 
me t lie man who makes war upon the 
Government, who fires upon our forts, 
or upon our ships, and I will show 
you a traitor; find if I were President, 
I would arrest him, try him, and, if 
convicted, by the Eternal God, 1 
would hang him." (Applause.) Why,, 
even the most radical of us were, we 
supposed, right in overlooking the 
claims of that tried patriot, Hannibal 
Hamlin, (alas! unfortunate mistake) 
and churning him as one of the most 
radical of our party. It is stated in 
Scripture,that the one most trusted by 
the Saviour.and who dipped with him 
in the same dish, thus giving grounds 
to infer, that when all others might 
betray him he would stand firmly by 
him, was the first to betray his Lord. 
And so now, the greatest traitor to 
the people, to the Union, to the party 
that elected him, to Truth, Justice, 
Honor and Principle, is the man who 
is ever saying, "Here I take my stand, 
and all the powers of hell shall not 
drive me from my position." 

Is it not strange that, as he stood 
at the grave of Douglas, his knees did 
not smite together like Belshaz 
as a • me up from the tomb, 

saying, "There are but two parties, 
patriots and traitors. "(Applause.) How 
dare he stand by the grave of kin- 
coin ! Did not a voice come up from 
the tomb saying, "You have beeo 
faithless to your pledges; you have 
been untrue to your party, untrue 



10 



to the people, untrue to your country ; 
true only to traitors, to Jeff. Davis, to 
Booth, and faithful only to the prin- 
ciples and purposes for which I was 
foully murdered." (Immense cheer- 
ing;) 

Fellow- citizens: The issue that is 
before us is plain, distinct, and well- 
defined. Congress has taken the po- 
sition that they will never admit into 
fellowship the representatives of any 
State of thisUnion till they are satisfied 
that that State is purified of its trea- 
son, and is loyal to the Government. 
(Applause.) And they must have 
some indemnity tor the past, or, at all 
events, a guarantee of security for the 
future. The President, on the other 
hand, says that, notwithstanding what 
these rebels have done, notwithstand- 
ing they violated their oaths win n 
they swore as Senators and Represent- 
atives, and as civil and military offi- 
oersunder the Government,to support 
and maintain the Constitution of the 
United States, left their seats in Con- 
gress, and their posts in the army of 
the United States, from which they 
had received their education at pub- 
lic expense; notwithstanding they 
organized and supported independent 
Governments, established separate 
Constitutions, and adopted their own 
Jaws, and attempted to subvert 1 he 
Constitution and Government of the 
United States, and to establish upon 
its ruins a government of a differenl 
theory, whose corner-stone Avas hu- 
man slavery; notwithstanding they 
havt shroudt d the land in mourning'; 
aotwithstanding 500,000 graves have 
made by their acts, Andrew 
Johnson demands that we shall re- 
oeive these men as Representatives 
from those States before they bave,as 
we maintain, given as any evidence 
of repentance. ((Vies of "No, no, 
never.") This is the issue between 
Congress and the President. It is a 
vital and mighty issue, and upon itw 



solution depends the existence and 
perpetuity of this Government in all 
time to come. 

The President is making his " cir- 
cle around the country, fighting trea- 
son at this end of the line ;" and his 
argument is that the States have nev- 
er been out of the Union, and because 
they have never been out of the Un- 
ion, therefore they are entitled to 
representation. Now, sir, as Mr. 
Lincoln well said, the question wheth- 
er they are in or out of the Union, is 
"a most pernicious abstraction." It 
is sufficient to know that whether in 
or out of the Union, they have stood 
in a hostile attitude to the Govern- 
ment, I am willing to agree with the 
President, that they have never been 
out of the Union ; that's what we 
were fighting about, and we whipped 
them, and made them stay in ; the 
territory remains, the people re- 
main, and the territory, people and 
States are subject to the Constitution- 
al authority of the Federal Govern- 
ment in spite of their treason. But, 
are they any the less traitors and 
criminals because they could not take 
their States out of the Union? Does 
not treason, in the language of the 
Constitution, consist, in '••levying war 
■l the United States?" And have 
they not levied war against the Unit- 
ed States ? Did they not prosecute 
that war with a bravery and despera- 
tion worthy of a better cause, for four 
long years, and with a ferocious cru- 
elty to prisoners of Avar, citizens of 
the Unit, d States, unparalleled in the 
annals ofsavage warfare? Did they 
not, by attempting to overthrow the 
Government, and by their bold and 
bloody treason, forfeit every right to 
life, liberty and property, and every 
rigb.1 to representation, as fully as if 

the States were out of the Union ? If 
so, why does Andrew Johnson go vo- 
ciferating about the country his sense- 
less gabble, that the States are not 



11 



v>ut of the Union ? Did he not treat 
them as being in full fellowship in 
the Union, and not as exercising their 
full functions as States in the Union, 
'when he appointed military or pro- 
visional governors, and when he dic- 
tated to them that they should adopt 
the Constitutional amendment abolish- 
ing slavery ? He cannot pretend 
that they were in the Union as Illi- 
nois or New York is in the Union, 
because he would not dare to appoint 
provisional governors for them. 

Why did he refuse to sanction the 
terms of surrender agreed upon by 
Sherman with Johnston ? You re- 
member those terras. Gen. Sherman, 
anxious to prevent the further effusion 
of blood, agreed, if Johnston would 
surrender his armies, they were to be 
restored to all their rights, civil and 
political, such as they had before the 
war. Now this is precisely what 
Andrew Johnson and his Philadel- 
phia Convention of August 14th say 
these rebel States should have, name- 
ly, all their political and civil rights, 
including the right to representation, 
as they enjoyed them before the par. 
Yet, sir, Andrew Johnson issued his 
order countermanding this f&ttle- 
ment on the part of Sherman, and 
why? Because the loyal people of 
the North, and Andrew Johnson him- 
self, condemned these terms upon the 
ground that the war would have been 
in vain, the blood and treasure of the 
nation would have been expended in 
vain, if the rebels were to be restored 
to all their rights as before the war, 
without any indemnity for the past, 
or security for the future. But, now, 
eir, Andrew Johnson proposes to go 
back and adopt the very terms of that 
surrender, and confer upon the rebels 
every right they had before the war, 
inflicting no punishment for their 
Heaven-daring crimes, and requiring 
no guaranties for their future good 



behavior and faithful allegiance to the 
Constitution and laws. 

I know it is asked, ' ; When a loyal 
representative presents himself in 
Congress, why not receive him?" — 
That is stating the question in the 
strongest terms for the other side. 
The answer is this : Our Government 
is based upon constituency. It is not 
the right of representatives in Con- 
gress} it is the right of constituencies 
which is to be recognized. Suppose 
a loyal constituency to send a disloy- 
al representative to Congress, would 
you accept him ? (No, no.) You say 
no, because he misrepresents his con- 
stituency. Now suppose a disloyal 
constituency send a loyal member, 
upon the same reasoning you must 
refuse to receive him because he does 
not truly represent his constituents. 
The principle is this : the constituents 
must be correctly represented, and 
you will see that a disloyal constitu- 
ency may send a loyal member to 
Congress for the purpose of securing 
a principle or precedent of admission, 
and he can immediately resign, and 
they can send a disloyal man in his 
plac". 

The proposition of Congress, as con- 
tained in the proposed constitutional 
amendment, is one of the most mag- 
nanimous ever submitted by conquer- 
ors to a vanquished foe. It is simply 
that these States shall be received 
upon the adoption of an amendment, 
which is now proposed for ratification 
by the States. It is not a proposition 
to keep out any loyal Stat.'. Tennes- 
see has been received. She has com- 
plied with the requirements of Con- 
gress, and by the admission of Ten- 
nessee we have shown, on our part, 
a disposition whenever a Slate ap 
proximatcs to loyalty, to extend 
the hand of fellowship and receive 
herintothe Union. (Applause.) All 
that we require is, that we have a fair 
and explicit understanding on this 



12 



subject. The amendment provides 
that the rebel debt shall never be paid. 
Is not that correct doctrine ! (Voices, 
-yes.") Well, if so,put it in the bond, 
in the Constitution. They have vio- 
lated their Oaths. Shall we now take 
simply their word? (Cries of no.) 
They have an interest in the payment 
of the rebel debt. Shall we not have 
it irrevocably in the Constitution that 
it is not to be paid ? (Yes, yes.) The 
amendment provides further that the 
national debt shall never be repudiat- 
ed. Is not that right ? (Yes.) If so, 
why not put it in the bond ? in the 
Constitution of the United States, and 
make it forever irrepealable ? It also 
provides that rebels who have taken 
an oath to support the Constitution of 
the United Slates, and have after- 
wards joined the rebel army, and at- 
tempted to overthrow the Govern*. 
ment and trample under foot our flag 
shall never hold office under the Gov- 
ernment of the United states. (Cheers 
and applause.) Well, if this is right, 
let us put it in the Constitution. Fol- 
low the wise example of our fathers. 
At the end of the Revolutionary war 
every State of the Union except 
South Carolina, while it extended am- 
nesty _ to the Tories, and gave them 
their lives and property,pro\ided that 
the Tories should never hold office 
under the government. (Applause.) 
South Carolina did not make this pro- 
vision, and Bhe ha i . Republic 
brm of government to this day. 
ernor is elected by the 
Legislature,and not by the people. If 
<L js right that these rebel leader . 
would not come back to hold the 
' ti] ' u ' 'nment which they 
1 to destroy, pat it in the Con-, 
stitution. 

amendment also provides for 
■ qualization of representation be- 
i the States, by basing Ltupon ac- 
tual roters. Dnderthe Constitution^ 

it stood belbre the amendment abolish 



ing slavery, you will remember that 
representation was counted to each 
State upon the basis of free persons and 
three-fifths of its slaves. In the Unit- 
ed States there were, according to the 
census of 1860, 3,350,500 slaves.— 
Three-fifths of those slaves gave to the 
slave States eighteen representatives. 
Now, by the former amendment, 
which abolished slavery, the two-fifths 
which were not represented have be- 
come free, and are entitled to repre- 
sentation, whieh gives the Southern 
States 12 additional representatives. 
So that the Southern States have 30 
representatives in Congress for their 
blacks alone. In other words, the 
white people of the South would vote 
for their blacks thirty votes in the 
electoral college, and also in Congress, 
and thus the representatives of blacks 
in those States being thirty in num- 
ber, would equal in power in the Na- 
tional Legislature, the entire States of 
Ohio and Indiana. And yet the op- 
ponents of the amendment say that 
they are for a white man's government, 
while they contend for a representa- 
tion of 30 votes in Congress for blacks 
alone. [Laughter and applause.] 

Now, fellow-citizens, if those white 
people had all I .] down there, 

you would not be willing to have that 
sort of representation come in com- 
petition with yours, would you ! [A 
voice, "No."] On the other hand, 
they have been traitors to the Gov- 
ernment ; and are you willing now, 
that they should have a representa- 
tion for their blacks in addition to 
their equal share with yourselves, 
equal to those great states, Ohio and 

Indiana I | Loud eric:-. "No, no."] 

This amendment proposes that every 
live white person in the South shaD 
hare a representation equal to that of 
a white person in the North ; and if 
they intend to have a further repre- 
sentation they shail not vote for the' 
negroes, but shall let the negroes vote 



IS 



for themselves. [Cheers and ap- 
plause ] Isn't this fair? [Voices, 
: 'Yes."] South Carolina has 200,000 
white population, and 400,000 blacks. 
11 200,000 whites in SouthCarolina 
cast as many votes, and have as much 
influence in the Government as 600,- 

000 free white citizens of Illinois? 
[A voice, "No, never."] Shall a 
white traitor in the South exercise a 
power equal to three loyal white peo- 
ple in the North ? [Voices, "No,no."] 
That is a plain proposition. 

I confess to yon, fellow-citizens, 
that I should have gone further than 
Congress did. I am for standing by 
in}- friends, and not by my en< o 
and if we allowed a traitor to vote 
who had raised his arm to pull down 
the flacr, I would have said, allow, 
also, those 200,000 black soldiers to 
vote who bore the Hag aloft in the 
face ■ of Jeff. Davis and his 
hordes. I would allow the right to 
my fiends as well as to my enemies. 
[Loud applause.] I will take no 
ViHck track in this matter : but while 
this is true, I yield to the an 
ment. It was the best thing I could 
do, and I am in favor of it. It will 
lly work out the same results; for 

1 am here to say to you, fellow-citi- 
zens, that none will be able to 

this consummation, the right of < 
one to the enjoyment of civil and 
religions liberty. lam for the Eng- 
nan, the American, the German, 
theAfrici 11 m es] eciallyfor 

The Irishman at this time, when he is 

up for his rigl I 
I hope to i ■ . day come, 

when Ireland shall, in the pri 
her power, glory in an independent 
and separ lality, and we shall 

send to the lie of the Emerald 

ited minister of the 
United States. [Applause.] I have 
no particular affi ction for the English 
Government just now. I rem ember 
the Trent surrender, and the attack 



of the Alabama on the Jvearsargo: 
and if the time shall ever come, that 
a fight shall be between England and 
Ireland, I am in favor of returning? 
to England her own interpretation of 
international neutrality, by sending 
our Kearsarges after her Alabamae. 
[Immense applause.] lam for liber* 
ty everywhere. I am for the Mon- 
roe doctrine, and against Maximillian 
and all tyrants the world over — 
[Cheers.] The party to which I be~ 

isthe only party which can c 
out this grand reform of human pro- 
gress, iblish liberty on every 
foot of -American soil. [Ch< 
These are the principles upon which 
I stand. They are living, inoxtirv- 
and immorl th»e 
gates of death and hell shall not pro- 
vail against them. [Loud cheering.] 
But, fellow-citizens, I have said 
this amendment is magnanimous. — 
There is nothing radical in it. It is 
so fair, that neither traitors or cop- 
perheads can object to it. It is 
ply that their white people in the 

;. in proportion to their num- 
bers, shall have as many votes as our 
white people in the North ; and if 
negroes are to vote, to confer 

upon them that right, and not we. — 
(voices " That's right") So that when 

perhead says we are contending 
for universal suffrage, I say thai 
amendment does no1 • univer- 

sal suffrage : nor even impartial 
frage — nothing that goes so far rw 

ident Johnson did in his lett< 
Gov. " suf- 

to such colored persons as could 
read and write, or who owned prop 
erty to the amount of $250." It con- 
fers the right on each State to say 

shall vote, but they shall not hay« 
representatives for their colored peo- 
ple till they give them the right to 
vote. Is it unreasonable or vindictive 
to demand of rebel States \ hich have 
attempted to overthrow the Govern- 



14 



ment, that in restoring them to the 
family whose happiness they have 
tried to destroy, they shall not have 
greater power in proportion to num- 
bers, than the States which through 
evil and through good report, have 
been true and faithful to the Consti- 
tution, Union, and happiness of the 
whole? Shall we, instead of award- 
ing the rebels the just punishment 
dife for their enormous offenses, re- 
ward them for their treason, by giving 
Uiern a larger representation, and 
more power than they had before the 
rebellion commenced \ (No, no.) 

Now, fellow-citizens, I ask you, if 
as your representative, I ought to 
cast" my vote for the admission of re- 
presentatives from these rebellious 
States, till they give some evidence 
of loyalty '? (Cries of no, no.) They 
Bay they surrendered in good faith. 
They surrendered because they were 
whipped. (Laughter.) Every thief 
that goes to the penitentiary surren- 
ders in good faith; but the question 
has the thief become an honest 
man." The question is, " has the 
traitor become ioyal to the Govern- 
ment .'" When they come as the 
prodigal came, saying to the nation 
k - we have sinned against Heaven and 
in thy sight, and are no more wor- 
thy to be called thy sons; make us 
98 one of thy hired servants ;" when 
they have become tired of eating 
husks and penitently say " we will go 
to the lions.; of our father, where 
there is bread enough, and to spare;" 
I shall be ready to run and meet them. 
and to put the b< si robes upon them, 
to put rings upon their fingers, to kill 
fatted cab i • for them, and to make 
merry over these sons " who were 
lost and are now tound again." But 
i.s this the kind of p< nitence they now 
bring to the loyal millions who have 
subdued them. Alexander Stephens 
says "no, we must not he humilia- 
ted." " We must come under the 



Constitution of the United States." 
We ask Mr. Stephens, "have you 
changed your opinions any?" "Are 
you sorry for what you have done." 
" We are sorry we are whipped." 
" Are you not as much secessionists 
as you ever were 1" " Yes ; but still 
we are willing to accept the situation 
and to take part with you in running 
the Government." They don't pro- 
pose to come and stay on the outside, 
but to rule the Government which 
they tried to destroy. They propose- 
to light us with the bayonet as long 
as they please, and then to vote us 
down with the ballot. Why are they 
out? Who expelled them? Didn't, 
they go out of their own accord'? 
Haven't they been swearing and 
fighting to stay out for five years? 
and now they swear just as defiantly 
that they will come in. (Applause 
and laughter.) Some have been striv- 
ing to go out. for thirty years, and 
now expect to come back in thirty 
da\ '. 

rYliow-rUi/ons. we want some as- 
surance that this government is not 
again to be put in peril.. Why, sirs, 
Governor raised 250,000 volun- 
teers, and sent them to the battle-field 
to triumph or die. They left their 
homes and went forth to battle ; 
slept in the swamps, climbed the 
mountain heights, and trudged 
through mud, and rain^i and snow. 
They carried our flag in triumph. 
(Applause,) Thousands returned say- 
ing " 1 lost this arm as I sea ed the 
heights of Donelson." " 1 lost this 
legat the battle of Chickamauga." "I 
losl this eye in the thickets of the 
Wilderness." And thousands and 
hundreds of thousands sleep their 
lasl Bleep on the banks of the Missis- 
sippi, the Tennessee and the. Cumber- 
land, on the heights of Lookout 
Mountain, and in the sands of tho 
ocean Bhore. And, now, am I their 
| representative in Congress, by my 



15 



vote, to give over the Government to 
the men whose hands are stained with 
the blood of my brave boys and write 
upon the hillocks which cover the 
bones of the noble dead. "Died in 
vain?" (Never, and loud applause.) 
Those who opposed the war may, but 
do not expect me as your Senator, to 
surrender this Government to rebels. 
(Renewed applause.) We fought to 
overcome secession, and yet you pro- 
pose to allow these secessionists to 
come with hypocritical smiles upon 
their faces and bowie-knives in their 
sleeves to take possession of this Gov- 
ernment again. 

I was at the Philadelphia Conven- 
tion on the 14th day of August last. 
I was at that harmonious Convention 
of the Johnson-copperhead-rebel par- 
ty [cheers]; and although I was not 
inside, I was in the audience where I 
oould see what was transpiring. — 
What was that Convention composed 
oft Men defeated at the polls, and 
men defeated on the field of battle. 
It was composed of copperheads in 
the North; demagogues, and men who 
were opposed to the Avar, and voted 
it a failure ; who resisted the draft ; 
who chuckled when they heard of 
our defeat in any of the battles 
fought; and when they heard the 
news of our victories said the tele- 
graph lied ; who didn't fight them- 
selves, ' and persuaded others from 
righting. Then, next, were the trai- 
tors from the South, from whose 
hands the stains of Union blood was 
not yet washed. There were, how- 
ever, a few office seekers of the 
"bread-and-butter brigade." [Voices, 
"Ketcham."] I haven't made any 
personal allusions. [Laughter.] The 
peace Democrats there said they did 
not see any difference between them- 
selves and Southern rebels, and I con- 
fess I did not. [Laughter.] I care 
not what your professions are, when- 
ever you join hands with bloody reb- 



els in convention you become ' one of 
them. You say there was great har- 
mony. "Extremes meet," said Ben. 
Butler's dog, when in pursuit of his 
tail, but after all it was the different 
ends of the same dog sticking togeth- 
er. [Renewed laughter.] It was a 
most harmonious convention, because 
they allowed no debate. They re- 
tried their resolutions without de- 
bate, to a committee, to say whether 
they were right or not. 

You know it is a part of natural 
history that almost all races and tribes 
and families disagree. Society has its 
disagreements. The beasts 'of ths 
held, and the songsters of the trees 
and meadows,have their quarrels; but 
natural history says there is one tribe 
in which there is entire harmony, that 
is the snake tribe. (Shouts of laugh- 
ter.) The rattlesnake is the emblem 
of South Carolina; and I Mas not sur- 
prised when I saw the magnanimous 
rattlesnake of South Carolina enter 
the Johnson wigwam arm iu arm 
with the treacherous copperhead of 
Massachusetts (Laughter.) 

Fellow citizens, I was at anothear 
convention in Philadelphia. One hun- 
dred and fifty thousand people assem- 
bled on Broad street on that occasion. 
There were the true loyal men of tb* 
South. There was no stain of their 
brother's blood on their hands. There 
was no guilt of perjury on their souls. 
There was no crime of treason rank- 
ling in their bosoms with malignant, 
hate, because they could nol have con- 
trol of the nation. They have en- 
dured persecutions at the South and 
were exiled for their love of the Union. 
I tell you, my friends, that was on* 
of the grandest sights mortal eyes 
ever beheld — the largest multitude of 
people ever assembled in Independ- 
ence City. One hundred and fifty 
thousand people surrounding eleven 
stands; the Long procession of the 
"Bovs in Blue," and the '"Invinci- 



16 



bles," ' with their torches and trans- 
parencies, and blazing rockets, and 
mottoes. It was like a prarie fire in 
the olden time before the settlements, 
when the grass was tall and dry in 
autumn, when the smoke heaven- 
ward towered, and sheets of flame 
went crackling, leaping, dashing, 
roaring and surging across the plain, 
like the billows of an ocean all on 
fire. (Applause.) Aye, sir, at such 
fcimeSjWolves and copperheads run for 
their holes. (Laughter.) 

But, fellow ci ou ask me how 

long I would keep these traitors out 
of the Government? Well, I am in no 
particular hurry about it. (Lang. 
I didn't send them out. They went 
out of their own accord from the 
and mosl 

earth, and without the slightest | 
ocation, and with a most wicked and 
devilish spirit. I am for their com- 
ing ! . a we want them to come, 
and not at a time of theik choosing. 
Who i.s to decide this 
.ion, the loyal millions or thi 
els and tra Who is to decide 
it, the loyal millions through then- 
representatives in Cong body 
to whom the ' 

ed thai duty, or the "i ■ who 

has gone over to vis and the 

oopp< rheads ? 

It is pr< I hens and 

such i 
< !on| 11 take • 

iment 
,,!, or win 
compensation shall be > 

1 

to sit upon Lh( ir own trials. As ell, 

sir, if a : • ne of the 

; him, 1 gu< i 3 he would 

. or tihere would be a 

hung jury. (Laughb r.) I am for 

i in when Lh< y are n i to 

come. < -ihI know b I a-, ould like to 

,. ,• the Union rei Lor< d, v. ith all its 

■! stripes, and 1 will huld out 



the hand of fellowship to every State 
where I believe there i.s a true and 
safe loyalty ; but I want a permanent 
Union, and as Mr. Lincoln said, I 
want "peace to come and to stay." 

Now, my fellow-citizens, am I not 
right in this ? (Yes.) Let me 
you in all candor, are they fit to come 
in? Answer one question, and that 
decides the whole matter. Do you 
suppose that any of you can go down 
South and express your sentiments 
freely, in safety? No; and yet th* 

titution of the United Si 
guarantees to the "citizens of each 
State all the privileges and infenuni- 
tics of citizens in the several State-. 
I have seen hundreds of the loyal 

hern men, at the Convention in 
Philadelphia, who tell me there is no 

y for life or property in those 
;. either- for colored men or for 
loyal white men. 

Will you take these men back in 
of Memphis? — in 
sight of the bloody murders of New 
Orleans ? If I had time I could dem- 
onstrate that the New Orleans Con- 
vention was a lawful bod; I law- 
fully : 1 1; but whether lawful or 
unlawful, the facts, go to indicate ami 
that the assault upon it wasa 
deliberate conspiracy to murder the 
members of that Convention. Phil. 
Sheridan, i d day of August, 

was suppressed by the Pres- 
ident,) 

"It was do riol ; it was an absolute 
hich was 
eded in barbarous cruelty 
by l: • 01*1 Pillow. J: was a 

murder which the mayor and police 
of this « ity perpetrated v. ithout a 
ehadow "I necessity. Furthermore, 
i believe it was premeditated and 
pre-arrangi d." 

H,. had, on the firsl of August, tel- 
i graphed that the mayor had "in his 
absence suppressed the Convention by 



17 



the use of Lis police brce, and iu so 

doing attacked the members of the 
Convention, and a party of two hun- 
dred negroes, with fire-arms, clubs, 
and knives, in a manner so uni 
sary and atrocious as to compel me to 
say it was murder.'' This part of the 
dispatch was also suppressed by the 
President : and, I ask you, for what 
motive, except to conceal from the 
people the evidence ©f his own mal- 
feasance in not preventing the riot as 
he was requested to do. I will not 
pursue details of that horrible tragedy. 
While a minister of devoted piety 
and high standing was offering up a 
prayer to God, this vile mob of trait- 
ors under Mayor Monroe, whom 31r. 
Johnson had pardoned to take that 
office — made the murderous attack 
upon the Convention. The minister, 
who was a brave as well as a good 
man. said "he woidd go and appeal to 
the mob — they would not hurt him." 
He took a small American flag, tied a 
white handkerchief around it. went 
out into the crowd, and they pounded 
him to pieces. They should be re- 
ceived into this nation, should they '. 
And these murders are justified by 
Andrew Johnson in his speech at St. 
Louis. "Oh shame, where is thy 
blush ! ,? 

How long will I keep 
ou1 .' Till every American citizen can 
travel to every village and hamlet in 
these States and speak his sentiments 
freely and he protected in his prop- 
erty Mud enjoy his Constitutional 
rights; till there are no skeletons 
of loyal men hung to the trees by the 
highways : till the flag of our coun- 
try i- no longer insulted, and till they 
do away with these grievances; I 
will keep them out till Gabriel's last 
trump shall sound (Cries of good. 
good, ami applause so loud thai the 
remainder of the sentence could not 
he heard.) I don't vvish to make 
threats, and 1 will not be threatened. 



I wib not threaten Andrew .Johnson. 
and he shall not threaten me. "When 
he says he can be Dictator it is a 
threat to the people. 

When Seward says. "Will you have 
Andrew Johnson for President or 
king ."" I tell you that it makes the 
blood o\' every American citizen leap 
through the arteries of his frame 
that any man dares to suggesl such 
an idea. (Applause.) Otempora, 
j mores! Art- not the times sadly out 
of joint when large numbers of the 
I leaders of the Johnson rebel patty 
\ are looking to the overthrow of con- 
gress and the regularly constituted 
! authorities of the Government, and to 
I the establishment of usurped author- 
ity in their places '. 

Passing over the threats of Garrel 
Davis and the Southern press, and a 
portion ot the Northern copperhead 
press, is it not time, I ask, to have 
the sentinels of liberty on the- watch 
tower, when Montgomery Blah*, the 
dismissed Postmaster General of Mr. 
Lincoln, and now the highest accred- 
ited minister of Andrew Johnson in 
preaching "my policy", is day by day 
with Satanic coolness threatening the 
people with two Congresses \ 

The plan seems to be to elect twon- 
ty— five copperhead representatives in 
districts now represented by loyal 
men, and ihese. added to the copper- 
head representatives now m Congress 
and to the delegation from the rebel 
States, will constitute a majority, and 
they will apply to the President for 
recognition, which he will grant. 

The loyal representatives will then 
impeach the President, and we will 
have civil war. The) are thus i>\ 
threats like these attempting to in- 
timidate the people, and induce them 

to surrender their rights. Fellow 
citizens, not only as a citizen but as 
a Senator. I defy them; (loud cheers,) 
and I will say 1o Montgomery Blair 
and Andrew Johnson, thai s, , far as 



1: 



Illinois is concerned, she raised 250. 
000 troops before; but when another 
attempt is made to overthrow the 
Government. 500000 swords will leap 
from their scabbards to put it down. 
(Great applause) The rebels of the 
South will again reckon without their 
host. The Northern copperheads, 
whatever may be their personal cour- 
age, will not expose themselves in 
battle in such a cause. No, sir, they 
dare not raise their hands against the 
Hag. Why did they not join Mor- 
gan and Lee in their Northern raids? 
Let all conspirators against the liber- 
ties of this country take due and 
timely notice, that the loya^ millions 
will meet them at Phillippi. You 
shall not tear the temple of liberty 
down. (Immense applause.) 

Fellow citizens, I did not intend 
to occupy your time so long, (voices, 
"go on, go on,") but I wish to warn 
you that there in real danger. Not that 
we wiil not finally triumph and save 
this Government — for we will — but 
there is real danger ot civil war. — 
There is no question in my mind, nor 
in the minds of distinguished Sena- 
tors with whom I have conversed, 
that the conspiracy to which I have 
referred is widely brewing, and that 
the Catalines are not few in num- 
bers. Andrew Johnson is soured and 
stands precisely in the same attitude 
to the American people in which 
Jeff. Davis stood before the war, — 
There is no particle of difference 
whatever, except thai .fell". Davis was 
truer to his professions; he was an 
educated secessionist, and had the 
plausible excuse that he was fighting 
for his .State; but Johnson has brok 
en his word, betrayed his' friends anil 
joined the enemies o| his country, lie 
intends to have power. lie is a weak 



niai: of fierce passions, and one upon 
whom demagogues can play and are 
playing. He is not surrounded by 
the patriots of the country, but by 
copperheads, secessionists and rebels, 
and is ready to recognize an unlaw 
fully constituted Congress, which is 
an usurpation, and will necessarily 
bring civil war. 

Now you see that our only plan is 
by an overwhelming demonstration at 
the polls to show that any attempt 
at usurpation, by rebels, copperheads 
and Andrew Johnson will be futile ? 
Thank God, we know what that dem- 
onstration w il 1 be. We have already 
heard a glorions shout from Maine, 
which has rolled up a loyal majority 
of 30JM)0. [Cheers and prolonged 
applause.] There is no doubt in my 
mind that Pennsylvania will give40,- 
000 majority, and we shall cany ev- 
ery northern State. Instead of their 
gaining twenty-five representatives, 

1 they will not gain one. I believe we 
shall carry every doubtful State, dis 

: trict and county in the nation, and 1 
hail the day when old Morgan shall 
come out with her banner to the sun 

I in favor of liberty and the Union. — 

, [Great applause.] There is do ques- 
tion about if if you will do your duty. 
I have spoken longer than \ inten- 
ded, ("go on. go on.") but in closing I 
must refer again to this grand recep 
tion, and thank you for it — and 
wherever \ may go, my eyes shall 
turn back to this scene, as one of the 
greenest spots in the waste oi memo 
i-y, and I shall havethe pie;: dug con- 
sciousness that however others may 
let 1 towards in"'. I have the respect 
and confidence of my neighbors, and 
a happy home among my fellow-citi 
zens of Morgan county. , bond an 
ph'iise.] 



